Santa Claus and Popcorn
by Kittyclaw
Summary: Oneshot. For their first holiday with Aelita, the gang plans the perfect, picturesque Christmas. However, an unexpected snow-in sends their plans in a slightly different direction.


**Almost didn't get this crazy thing finished in time! Inspired by the song of the same name, and dedicated to RenaYumi for writing Christmas with me. Merry Christmas everyone!**

* * *

Christmas, for Aelita, had never held much of a place of honor in her mind. Her first memories of Christmas after being brought to Earth from Lyoko were of a holiday whose purpose seemed to be to make her friends all go off to their families, leaving her alone at Kadic for the duration of winter break. They had sent her gifts, of course, all wonderful and useful things that she cherished and kept displayed in places of honor about her dorm. But, although appreciated, the trinkets had been incapable of making up for her friends' absence.

Now that a handful of Aelita's old memories had began to trickle back to her, she could remember Christmases spent with her family, tucked in a homey living room with a big tree and piles of wonderful gifts. This only made her feel more miserable about the impending winter holiday, knowing that, yet again, it was going to be a lonely affair.

At least, that was what she was expecting until dinner time of the day that her friends were supposed to be leaving for their homes.

Sitting at their usual table, Aelita was alone with her tray of food—the school's yearly attempt to replicate a full scale family Christmas dinner. She was sitting with her chin in her hand, poking forlornly at her carrots and considering whether or not she should try getting a jump on next semester's studying, when suddenly Ulrich dropped down into the chair across from her. She jumped at his unexpected appearance, blinking in surprise as he failed to greet her as he began wolfing down his food. Things only got stranger when, a second later, Yumi was scooting into the chair to Aelita's left.

"Umm," she said slowly, as Yumi also began eating without preamble. Bewildered, Aelita wondered if she had miss-read her calendar that morning, and her friends really weren't supposed to be leaving until tomorrow. No, that couldn't be it, she decided. They'd all said their goodbyes to one another last night.

Jeremy shuffled into the seat on Aelita's right. She blinked. Maybe she'd dreamed that they'd said goodbye to her?

"Hey Princess," the last of her friends greeted as he took the seat beside Ulrich. Aelita looked up, struggling not to gape at Odd as he winked at her over his mashed potato loaded tray, and then proceeded to scarf his food.

"What…?" she asked softly, looking around at her gathered friends. Jeremy looked up curiously when she failed to continued.

"Yes?" he asked, before stabbing a piece of potato with his fork and popping it in his mouth.

"Why are you all here?" Aelita asked slowly.

"To eat lunch," Ulrich responded, looking confused by the question. "Why, are you here for a different reason?"

"No," Aelita said, still baffled. "But I thought that you were all…"

"Leaving?" Yumi supplied. Aelita nodded dumbly.

"Yeah, so did we," Odd said around a mouthful of potato.

"You're not?" Aelita asked. Everyone at the table shook their heads. Aelita's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But…why?"

"We can't," Ulrich said, motioning to himself and Odd. "There's a huge storm up in Paris. Both of our flights were canceled, and they don't know yet when they'll be able to re-open the airport."

"And my dad got an emergency call from his job," Yumi said, continuing the explanation where Ulrich left off. "He and my mom had to fly to Japan last week, and thanks to the storm they won't be able to get back until after Christmas."

"Wow," Aelita responded. She then turned to Jeremy. "Is the airport the same reason you're still here?" she asked. He nodded.

"I was supposed to fly out today to meet my parents in England for our trip this year," he explained. "But I can't now."

"Wow," Aelita repeated.

"I know," Odd agreed. "What are the chances that all four of us are relying on the same airport for our Christmas plans, and it just happens to be the one that gets hit with a blizzard?"

"Murphy's Law," Ulrich responded around a bite of turkey. "It's out to get us."

"Or maybe it's Xana," Yumi responded with a shrug.

"It would be his ultimate attack," Odd agreed. "Ruin all of our Christmases. Except Aelita's," he added thoughtfully. "Now she gets to have us all to herself for Christmas."

The entire table turned to look at Aelita.

"I think you're wrong," Ulrich told Yumi. "Xana didn't do this. Aelita did. Aelita blinked innocently as the others laughed.

"I am glad that you're all here," Aelita admitted, "but I'm sorry that you won't be able to spend Christmas with your families."

"Eh," Odd responded with a shrug. "We've spent all our lives having Christmas with our families. But we've never got to spend one with you."

"It's true," Ulrich agreed. "And you've not gotten to experience a proper Christmas yet."

"I haven't?" Aelita asked. She was surprised when everyone, not just Ulrich, shook their heads.

"You got to do the whole getting gifts part," Odd said, "but you didn't get to do all the family stuff." At this, Aelita dropped slightly, her gaze dropping to her food.

"That's because I don't have a family to do them with," she mumbled.

"Of course you do."

"I do?" Aelita asked, looking up at Yumi.

"Yes, you do," Jeremy assured her. "Us."

Her eyes went wide as she looked around her group of friends, all of whom were nodding in agreement with Jeremy's words.

"Really?" she asked softly.

"Really," Ulrich assured her. "And this year, we're going to give you a real family Christmas."

Aelita stared at her friends, at a loss for words.

"You would do that for me?" she asked softly. She then blinked in surprise as Yumi looped an arm around her shoulder.

"Of course we would," she told her pink haired friend.

"And hopefully you're okay with spending all of Christmas with us," Odd chimed in, "because we sort of planned everything already."

"You did?" Aelita asked in surprise.

"We started planning the second we knew we were going to be here over Christmas," Jeremy said.

"And we planned a lot of stuff," Ulrich added. "So I hope you're ready."

"We're all going to spend the night at my house," Yumi explained.

"And tomorrow we're going to do every Christmas-y thing you can think of," Odd announced. "We're going to have a snowball fight."

"And take a horse drawn sleigh ride through the park," Jeremy added.

"And go Christmas shopping," Yumi said.

"And then go out and have a huge Christmas dinner," Ulrich finished. "And do anything else we think of during the day."

"Wow," Aelita breathed. "I…I don't know what to say."

"How about 'Yes, I'll spend the day with you'?" Odd suggested. Aelita laughed; her smile dazzling.

"Yes," she said, as all of her friends grinned back, "I'll spend the day with you."

The hour after dinner was a whirl wind of activity, as everyone scrambled about the

* * *

ir dorms, rummaging through packed bags and suitcases trying to get together everything they would need to spend the next three days at Yumi's. Ulrich and Odd had to pause in their searching multiple times to sort out why an article of their roommate's clothing was in their suitcase, while Jeremy struggled to find his scarf under the heaps of electronics he had packed. Aelita kept remembering toiletries she'd forgotten to pack, and Yumi found herself darting between floors and bedrooms in an effort to make sure that no one forgot anything. And when everyone was finally outside of the dorms, they were forced to wait as, one by one, each of the boarders dashed back to their rooms to collect a forgotten toothbrush or pair of spare pants.

Eventually, by the grace of what was undoubtedly multiple gods, the quintet eventually found themselves sprawled about Yumi's living room, scattered intermittently throughout heaps of blankets and pillows.

"Is everyone comfortable?" Yumi asked, peering over her own pillows at the rest of her friends. Jeremy, Aelita, and Ulrich all nodded contently.

Odd's response was a rumbling snore.

"I'll take that as a yes," Yumi deadpanned, as the others tried to muffle their laughter in their pillows. Still grinning, Aelita rolled over so that she could see everyone, propping herself onto her elbows.

"Thank you all for doing this for me," she whispered. "I can't imagine a better way to spend a Christmas than with you guys."

"Neither can we, Princess," Ulrich said sleepily, as he burrowed down into his blankets.

"You're very welcome," Jeremy added, smiling over his pillow at the green eyed girl.

"Okay everyone," Yumi yawned. "We can continue this conversation tomorrow. But for now I think we should follow Odd's lead." She paused, grinning at Aelita. "We'll need to be well rested for our busy day tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay," Jeremy sighed, lying down. "Good night everyone."

"G'night," Ulrich mumbled sleepily.

"Night," Yumi responded, also vanishing under a blanket. Aelita grinned, pulling her own blanket up to her chin.

"Good night," she whispered, closing her eyes and settling in to sleep. She wondered briefly if her excitement for tomorrow would end up keeping her awake through the night.

The thought had barely passed through her mind before she was lost to her dreams.

* * *

The first thought to break through the cotton of sleep fogging Aelita's mind was _It's cold._ This was quickly followed by _Why is it so cold inside of Yumi's house? _This thought was chased after by yet another.

_Is that bacon?_

Nose twitching, Aelita sat up, letting her blankets pool around her waist as she sniffed the air. She was quickly pulling them back up over her shoulders, however, at the shock of cold air that met her.

"Morning Princess," a voice mumbled, drawing Aelita's attention to the blanket lump to her right, where only the tuft of messy brown hair identified the lump of bedding as more than just pillows and sheets. "I would stay in bed a little longer, if I were you."

"Why?" Aelita asked, although she lay back down, scooting under her quilt once more.

"The heat's only just been turned on," Yumi responded, her head popping up a few feet away. "It's going to be a few minutes before the house warms up."

"A few minutes?" Aelita repeated sleepily.

"Yep," she heard Ulrich respond, his voice muffled by the blankets he was burrowed under.

"It's got a bit of competition," Odd's voice called from the kitchen, where the smell of bacon was wafting from. "Take a look out the window!"

Curious to find out what everyone else seemed to already know, Aelita wrestled with her blankets for a minute, making sure they would stay securely about her shoulders, before climbing carefully to her feet. Maneuvering her way through the living room's carpeting of bedding, she approached the window, whose curtains were tightly closed. A hand snaking out from the safety of her warm blankets, Aelita pushed the drapery aside.

"Oh…wow," Aelita whispered, staring out at the sight that met her. There was snow, and lots of it.

"There was a bit of a freak snow storm last night," Jeremy said, appearing at the window beside Aelita, cocooned in some of his own blankets. He gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Aelita. I don't think we're going to be able to do all those things we promised you yesterday."

"Oh, that's alright," Aelita said, placing a hand against the glass. It was almost painfully cold to touch. "As long as…we'll be able to get out, won't we?"

"Of course!" Jeremy said, looking surprised. "The city is already sending people out to clear the roads."

"Thought it might be a while before they get to us," Ulrich said, sticking his head out from under his quilt. "But they will get here," he added.

"Ah," Aelita breathed, looking relived. "Then that's alright."

"Are you sure?" Yumi asked. "I feel kind of bad knowing that we said we were going to give you such a fun day, and now we're having to spend it inside."

"I'm sure," Aelita said, nodding. "As long as whatever we do, we do it together. That's…that's what Christmas is about, right?"

"Psh," Odd sputtered, his head appearing out of the kitchen. "It's about gifts."

"Get back in the kitchen Odd," Ulrich snapped, rolling over and hurling a pillow at the blonde's head. Odd vanished from sight, the sound of a raspberry following him into the kitchen. Laughing, Aelita wandered back over to her make-shift bed, dropping down into it with a blanket cushioned _thump_.

"So, what will we do today," she asked curiously.

"We've been trying to figure that out, actually," Jeremy responded, sitting down beside her. "We had a few ideas, but we weren't sure if you would like them or not."

"Really?" Aelita asked, her excitement welling at the possibility of not having to forego her Christmas after all. "Like what?"

"Like breakfast," Odd said, reappearing from behind the kitchen wall. Aelita blinked, only just now noticing that the blonde was wearing an apron over his thick jacket, and the hand he was waving at the group was covered with an oven mitt. "Hurry, before it goes cold!"

"In this house, it probably already is," Ulrich muttered as everyone began slowly shuffling out of their beds. Yumi laughed, swatting his head with a pillow as she got up. Grumbling in protest, he climbed slowly to his feet, making sure to keep himself cocooned in his blankets, like the rest of his friends.

"You look like a bunch of Eskimos," Odd observed brightly as they filtered into the dining room and took their seats around the table.

"What's for breakfast?" Ulrich asked, ignoring the comment. Grinning, Odd dashed into the kitchen, to return a moment later with two large serving bowls—one filled with scrambled eggs, and the other piled high with bacon.

"Oh, wow," Yumi said, her eyebrows rising as Odd set the food down.

"That's not all there is," Odd assured her, before vanishing back into the kitchen. He proceeded to parade an appetizing collection of breads, meats, variously prepared potatoes, and even some fresh fruit to the table.

"Odd, are you feeding the five of us, or is the whole school coming here for breakfast?" Jeremy asked, staring at the food with wide eyes.

"My mom always said that breakfast should be the most filling meal of the day," Odd responded, handing out plates and cutlery. "Also, I'm really hungry."

"At least we'll have food for the rest of the day," Ulrich observed, while trying to figure the logistics of getting himself some bacon without having to remove his hand from his blanket. Yumi laughed when she noticed his intense look.

"Did it blink yet?" she asked playfully, motioning to the bowl with a tilt of her head.

"Not yet," Ulrich said, without missing a beat. "But I'm not going to let it win this time." Laughing harder, Yumi reached over for the bowl and handed it to Ulrich, whose fork emerged from the folds of his quilt to scoop some bacon onto his plate.

"Thanks Yumi," he said, smiling at her as she passed the bacon on to Aelita. As Aelita put some on her own plate, she noticed that Ulrich was now staring at the eggs, glancing occasionally at Yumi.

"Nice try," Yumi said dryly, grabbing the bowl and serving herself before passing it along as well. Ulrich sighed, his head dropping in defeat as the rest of the table laughed.

"So, Princess," Odd said, as he piled hash browns onto his plate. "Do you know what you want to do today?"

"I hadn't really thought about it," Aelita admitted, shrugging lightly. "But Jeremy said you had some ideas?" she directed her question to the table as a whole.

"A few," Yumi nodded. "I was thinking that we could decorate for Christmas. My family had decided not to do it this year, since we wouldn't be home, but it's not like we can do anything more Christmas-y than that, right?"

"Agreed," Odd said, around a mouth full of food.

"Disgusting," Ulrich informed him. "And I also agree with Yumi." Grinning excitedly, Aelita looked to Jeremy, who also nodded his agreement.

"Great!" she bounced with excitement. "So, what do you do to decorate for Christmas?"

* * *

"_This _is how you decorate for Christmas?" Aelita asked, staring at Odd. The blonde nodded vigorously, grinning broadly at his friend. Aelita's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course I am," Odd responded. "Why do you ask?"

"Because we're all sitting in Yumi's attic."

The group of five looked at one another, as if they were all just now realizing at they were currently crammed together among a haphazard collection of cardboard boxes and stored luggage.

"We have to get the decorations out first," Yumi said, laughing lightly at Aelita's bewilderment. She was crawling away from the group, weaseling her way deeper into the attic.

"Since we only use Christmas decorations once a year, most people keep them packed up in the attic during the year," Jeremy explained as Yumi rummaged in the background. There was a small crash, followed by a triumphant shout.

"I found the tree!" Yumi shouted. Aelita looked at Jeremy in confusion.

"Is keeping a tree in your attic something you do for Christmas?" The group laughed, while Aelita only grew more confused.

"No, no," Jeremy said. "It's not a real tree. Some people use fake trees for their Christmas trees, since they're easier to take care of."

"Yeah," Odd added. "You don't have to water a fake tree."

"Or through it out after Christmas," Yumi chimed. "Look out!" she then cried. A moment later, and the end of a long, rectangular box emerged, being shoved towards the group. What followed was a truly ingenious feet of semi-engineering as the gang worked out the logistics of getting the boxed up tree out of the attic and down into Yumi's living room. It took all five teenagers, a few artfully applied bungee cords, and a slew of colorful curses; but eventually the box lay on the living room floor.

"Alright," Yumi said, clapping her hands together. "Now we put up the tree."

"Sounds easy enough," Odd shrugged, pulling open the box. A few dozen fake branches tumbled out onto the rug, along with a few thick green poles. Pouncing on one of the poles and scooping up a branch, Odd began trying to fit the two pieces together. Seeing imminent danger to her possessions, Yumi quickly stepped in, taking the two tree parts off of the blonde.

"Why don't you let me do that?" Yumi asked. "Me and Aelita can put the tree together, while you take Ulrich and Jeremy and go bring down the rest of the Christmas stuff." Odd blinked, staring at his empty hands for a moment. He then straightened, snapping a salute.

"Yes, ma'am!" he shouted, before grabbing Ulrich and Jeremy and darting off.

"I hope letting him loose in my attic was a good idea," Yumi said, as she turned back to the tree parts. Aelita giggled, kneeling down to start helping Yumi unpack the tree properly.

"I'm sure Jeremy will keep him in check."

Just as she spoke a dull thud echoed from upstairs. The girl's shared a look. Yumi sighed.

"I hope you're right."

* * *

It turned out that Aelita had, for the most part, been correct in assuming that Jeremy would keep his rambunctious companions in check. The blonde had twice interrupted Odd and Ulrich in the middle of trying to strangle one another with strings of tinsel, and at one point he'd been forced to chase Odd out of the room after the shorter boy started following Yumi and Aelita around with some mistletoe he'd tied to the end of a broom handle and kept holding over people's heads.

Hoping for a way to keep the boys busy, Yumi had allowed Odd and Ulrich to decorate the tree. This had turned into a competition on who could decorate their half of the tree best, with Yumi and Aelita cheering on Team Ulrich and Team Odd, respectfully, while Jeremy refereed—something he'd thought would be pointless, until Odd was caught trying to knock ornaments off of Ulrich's side when he wasn't looking.

Since going outside was a no, the group finished up by stringing icicle lights throughout the house, trying to outdo one another in finding creative places to hide. Jeremy, oddly enough, was the winner of this competition, when Odd found that the boy had very artfully decorated the inside of Yumi's fridge.

Eventually the whirlwind that was five decoration happy teenagers petered out, everyone finding themselves scattered back across the living room floor as they took in their holiday handiwork.

"Well, Princess," Odd sighed, as Yumi plugged in the last of the lights. "What do you think?"

"I all looks so beautiful," the pink haired girl breathed, looking dazzled as Ulrich flipped off the room's main lights, leaving on the icicle lights and the tree lit.

"Better than the decorations at Kadic?" Odd asked playfully. Aelita flashed him a smile.

"Much better. And much more fun." The group shared smiles as they settled down into their blankets.

"You know," Yumi sighed, "that took up a lot more of the day than I thought it would. But we still have some time before we need to go to sleep. What do you think we should do?" Having expected people to simply say their ideas, Yumi was understandably startled when Odd flew to his feet and dashed out of the room, bellowing something unintelligible as he went.

"…What did he say?" Aelita asked, glancing at Ulrich. The brunet sighed, letting his face fall into his pillow.

"I think he said 'Let's watch Zombie's From the Grave'."

"Let's watch…what?" Jeremy deadpanned.

"It's a new movie he got," Ulrich explained. "He's been trying to get me to watch it for days now. It looks pretty cheesy if you ask me."

"Cheesy?" Odd scoffed, having reappeared in the room, a DVD case clutched in his hand. "'Zombies From the Grave' is a classic!"

"It's not very Christmas-y," Yumi said, wrinkling her nose as Odd showed everyone the movie's cover, which displayed half a dozen cliché looking Zombies marching across a graveyard. Odd shrugged.

"Neither is being snowed in and home alone," he retorted. "Please?" he added at everyone's flat looks. "Oh, come on," he sighed. "Where's your holiday spirit?" Ulrich blinked at him.

"The zombies ate it," he responded cheekily. Odd narrowed his eyes, then pounced on his friend, the pair proceeding to wrestle across the floor. Jeremy and Yumi quickly took up cheering the pair on as they began beating on another with their pillows.

"You know, I think I would like to watch a zombie movie."

Everyone fell suddenly quiet, four pairs of surprised eyes turning to look at Aelita.

"What?" she asked, looking startled. Across from her, a grin split Odd's face.

"Yes!" he cheered. "Christmas girl gets to pick what we do, so we're doing the movie!" Ulrich sighed, as Odd leapt off of him and scrambled into the kitchen, shouting something about needing snacks first.

"Well," he said, "at least it's an original way to spend Christmas Eve."

* * *

The room was dark, save for the lights on the Christmas tree. The five teens had piled on the floor in front of the couch, nested together in a heap of pillows and blankets and surrounded by all manner of sodas, chips, hot chocolate, cookies, breakfast leftovers, and, of course, a massive bowl of popcorn. The teens weren't looking at the handfuls of food being shoved into their mouths; their eyes were locked on the screen in front of them.

A girl, about the age of the gang watching, was currently hiding inside of an old, decrepit barn, despite the group shouting at the screen for her not to go inside it. Popcorn littered the floor from when Odd had tossed it at the stupid girl as she crept into the barn anyway, and proceeded to hide herself up in the hayloft.

Dramatic theme music started up, and the group snuggled instinctively closer.

"You'd better run," Ulrich muttered, as the girl looked about, oblivious to her impending Zombie doom.

"You know she won't," Jeremy said, just as the girl suck further into the corner.

"Have you already seen this movie?" Odd asked, not taking his eyes off the screen. Jeremy snorted.

"If you've seen one Zombie movie, you've seen them all."

"Shhh," Aelita hushed, waving at the pair as she watched the television. It was showing the floor just inside the barn's open doors, brightly lit by the night's full moon. The music increased in intensity as a zombie shaped shadow fell across the floor.

"She can still get out," Yumi hissed, as the camera panned back to the hiding girl. She pointed out the windows at the end of the hayloft.

"No she can't," Aelita whispered back. "The zombies have the barn surrounded, remember?"

A loud bang from the T.V. caused both the group and the actress on screen to jump.

"Here is comes," Odd hissed, as everyone scooted a little closer. The girl was tucked as far into the corner as she could get herself, whimpering softly as the sounds of someone moving slowly up the stairs echoed through the barn. The steps followed the same limping gait that had been used for the zombies throughout the entire film.

"He's going to get you," Ulrich sing-songed, as he crammed a handful of popcorn into his mouth. Everyone shushed him, their grips tightening on their pillows and each other's arms as the zombie's theme music picked up in tempo.

Louder, and louder the footsteps became, coming so close that the Zombie had to be on the top of the stairs by now. And then they continued on, in true overly done horror movie fashion, until the Zombie had climbed what had to be fifty something steps up a twenty step ladder.

"Maybe he's never going to get there," Jeremy suggested, the rolling of her eyes audible in his tone.

"Shhh," Odd hushed.

As if taking its cue from Odd, the footsteps chose that moment to cease. The group blinked in confusion, along with the movie's female lead, who stared at the opening in the hayloft floor. Then, slowly, she crawled forward towards the opening. Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward and looked through to the barn floor below.

There was nothing there. Looking confused, the girl sat back on her haunches, scratching her head. She then shrugged, climbing to her feet. She turned around, preparing to climb back down the ladder.

The Zombie lunged out of the shadows, roaring as it attacked the girl. He scream cut through the air, and blood splattered the hayloft floor.

The girl's scream was nothing compared to those let loose by those watching the movie. The bowl of popcorn and bags of chips went flying as five teenagers shrieked and dived under their blankets.

And, with thoughts of killer Zombies floating through their heads, the group found themselves with an unspoken agreement that, at least for tonight, they would remain together under their blanket sanctuary, safe from the legions of the undead.

They also vowed an unspoken agreement that, should they ever spend the night together again, Odd would not be allowed to choose the movie, however cheesy it may be.

* * *

"Aelita, Aelita, wake up, Santa's been!"

Blinking sleep blearily from her eyes, Aelita sat up and stared at her friend, who was bouncing excitedly.

"Odd," she said, fighting back a yawn, "what time is it?"

"Seven o'clock," he responded. "The best time to get up and tear into gifts." Frowning, Aelita glanced around, looking for the others. Like Odd, they were all already awake and watching her with excited, expectant looks.

"Odd," Aelita said slowly, as something the blonde had said finally registered in her sleep clogged brain. "What do you mean, Santa's been? I thought Santa wasn't a real person."

"Psh," Odd responded, waving his hand. "If Santa weren't real, then where did all these gifts come from?" Aelita followed his pointing finger to the tree they had set up the day before which, to Aelita's great surprise, was surrounded by a pile of gifts.

"Oh wow," she breathed, shocked. Where _had _all of those gifts come from? Sure, she's heard the stories of Santa from her friends, but she also knew that he wasn't a real person, so he couldn't have actually left them all in gifts in the night…could he?

It was then that Aelita noticed a few familiar presents among the bunch—the ones she had bought and wrapped for her friends, and then given to them back before they were supposed to leave on their trip. Under the trees were all of the gifts they'd gotten for one another, which Aelita's friends had undoubtedly snuck there while she was sleeping.

A small smile blossomed across Aelita's face as she realized what her friends had done for her. When they'd said they were going to give her a proper Christmas, they'd really meant it, all the way down to the gifts not showing up until Christmas morning.

"Oh wow," she breathed, turning from the tree and looking at her friends, all of whom were smiling at her. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"You're very welcome, Princess," Odd said with a mischievous wink.

"Merry Christmas, Aelita," Jeremy said. Aelita grinned, then launched herself forward and scooped her friends into a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered again. "And Merry Christmas."


End file.
